{"id":55331,"date":"2017-12-03T22:33:42","date_gmt":"2017-12-03T22:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=55331"},"modified":"2017-12-03T22:33:42","modified_gmt":"2017-12-03T22:33:42","slug":"skin-pigmentation-is-far-more-genetically-complex-than-previously-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=55331","title":{"rendered":"Skin pigmentation is far more genetically complex than previously thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

Skin pigmentation is far more genetically complex than previously thought<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Broad Institute<\/a>
\nMassachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
\n2017-11-30<\/p>\n

David Cameron<\/strong><\/a>, Director of Communications\/Media Relations<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\nCredit : Brenna Henn<\/a><\/em>
\nSouth African individuals in a household that exemplify the substantial skin pigmentation<\/a> variability in the Khomani<\/a> and Nama<\/a> populations. Picture taken with consent for publication.<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

By studying an African population underrepresented in most datasets, researchers find genetic complexity of pigmentation<\/a> varies by latitude<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Many studies have suggested that the genetics of skin pigmentation<\/a> are simple. A small number of known genes, it is thought, account for nearly 50 percent of pigment variation. However, these studies rely on datasets that heavily favor northern Eurasian<\/a> populations\u2014those that reside mostly in higher latitude<\/a> regions.<\/p>\n

Reporting in the November 30 issue of Cell<\/em><\/a>, researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Stanford University, and Stony Brook University report that while skin pigmentation is nearly 100 percent heritable, it is hardly a straightforward, Mendelian trait<\/a>. By working closely with the KhoeSan<\/a>, a group of populations indigenous to southern Africa<\/a>, the researchers have found that the genetics of skin pigmentation become progressively complex as populations reside closer to the equator, with an increasing number of genes\u2014known and unknown\u2014involved, each making a smaller overall contribution.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfrica has the greatest amount of phenotypic variability in skin color, and yet it\u2019s been underrepresented in large scale endeavors,\u201d said Alicia Martin<\/a>, a postdoctoral scientist in the lab of Broad Institute member Mark Daly<\/a>. \u201cThere are some genes that are known to contribute to skin pigmentation, but by and large there are many more new genes that have not been discovered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to spend more time focusing on these understudied populations in order to gain deeper genetic insights,\u201d said Brenna Henn<\/a>, assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University who, along with Martin, is a co-corresponding author…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By studying an African population underrepresented in most datasets, researchers find genetic complexity of pigmentation varies by latitude<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1295,12,2039,8],"tags":[27753,27734,27762,27746,27763,11787,27761,27745,27750,27764],"class_list":["post-55331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-articles","category-health-medicine","category-media-archive","tag-alicia-martin","tag-alicia-r-martin","tag-brenna-henn","tag-brenna-m-henn","tag-broad-institute","tag-david-cameron","tag-mark-daly","tag-mark-j-daly","tag-skin-color","tag-skin-pigmentation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55335,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55331\/revisions\/55335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}